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Chris Fisher
Fish is a skinny, occasionally snarky punk who's more than a little addicted to magic. He learned his spells from his great-grandmother, Nana Ruby, who was, like him, a natural medium for "spirits, demons, and all those others beyond the veil". She died early in 2014, leaving him a small collection of old books and journals that had been passed down to her from her grand-uncle (who'd also had "the gift"). To Fish, getting possessed and spirit-ridden is sometimes inconvenient, sometimes frightening, but always a rush. He's more than a little overconfident, with perhaps not a strong enough sense of his own mortality. This, combined with a thirst to learn /more/ magic, to dig into /more/ weird shit, is likely to make his life very interesting. Which is good. Fish likes interesting. =Timeline= 2015 *'February:' Seized by an impulse while studying cigarette smoke, Fish rides into town on a Greyhound bus. He meets Vee and, later, Rhys. He also gets a cheap apartment and explores the city, getting the lay of the land. *'May:' Fish seems to have left town, though the rent on his crappy little apartment is paid up through the end of his yearly lease. =Contacts= *'Vee:' Nice kid. Cool hair. No fear. In trouble? *'Rhys:' Computer dude, knows Vee. Button-down, self-deprecating, seems nice enough. =RP Hooks= *'Maxwell Tower:' The lobby has bookstores, a Starbucks, and free wifi. Fish enjoys all these things. *'Nightlife:' Fish has started sampling the local clubs; he hasn't picked a favorite yet, so might be seen at any one of 'em. *'Red Mill Apartments:' Fish is in apartment #601, and his neighbors are getting familiar with his efforts to learn how to play electric guitar. Do you dig that opening riff to "Pretty Vacant"? Good, because living near Fish, you'll hear it a LOT. *'Other Locations:' There's probably a reason for Fish to be there. He's a bit nosy, no pun intended. *'Medium:' Spirits interest Fish, and Fish interests spirits, what with his being kind of a natural spirit vessel. See below. *'Magic:' Fish's great-grandmother didn't have a lot to do with sorcerer society, but she knew people and was known by same, so while Fish himself is far from famous, it's possible that someone might know about him if they knew Nana Ruby. She could also have name-dropped someone to him. Either could be a potential reason to meet and talk magic stuff. =Magic= Chole Fish is a natural medium; for whatever reason, his soul is more open to temporary possession by spirits (even those who don't have the Possession charm, which is good because generally only Banes have that, and their version is permanent if successful), and they're able to use their Charms while riding him. This can happen regardless of Fish's desires, though he has learned spells to combat this. (Note: Fish has two dots in the Chloe background, which means that spirits have -2 difficulty to possess and work their magic through him.) Library Fish inherited a few books and a couple of extensively written-in old journals from his great-grandmother. The books include two slim volumes, one on Divination, one on the basics of spirit summoning, possession, and exorcism. There's a third thick book about shapeshifting and transmogrification, but the text is very densely written and completely disorganized to boot; Fish's attempts to learn anything from it have so far failed utterly, and it's been a while since his last attempt. The journals contain writings, notes, diagrams, and drawings from both Fish's great-grandmother and great-great-granduncle and contain a lot of information about spirits and the handling of same, including types of spirits, "sympathetic material" (chiminage) and various theories about the geography about the "world on the other side". Fish would add his own notes to the mix, but there's just not a lot of room left; he's considering getting a blank journal to start on his own. Path Magic Divination *'Toatar Vep (level 1):' By studying the smoke from a candle, incense stick, or cigarette, the sorcerer can get a glimpse of the future or gain answers to otherwise unknowable things. The sorcerer must be in a location free from distractions and must let their mind go blank so that they might be properly receptive. For Fish, this means a dim room, noise-cancelling earbuds (which he spent good money on because they provide great sound, too), and a candle on the floor while he sits in lotus position and gets quiet and meditative. Watch the smoke rise from the candle, let the images or feelings come. He's also learned that he can sometimes get results by just getting some place quiet and lighting a cigarette. (In mechanical terms, +1 difficulty with no greater precision of results.) *'Tarot Cards:' Nana Ruby preferred tarot cards, and Fish possesses her deck, which was hand-painted sometime in the 1920s. The cards are big, heavy, slippery, and awkward to handle (not that Ruby ever seemed to have a problem with them), so generally they stay in their velvet bag and latched wooden box. Summoning *'Salman Ip Zimii (level 1):' Through invocation and the tracing of defensive sigils in the air, the sorcerer pushes back against an invading spirit to prevent a possession currently in progress. Literally the first real spell that Fish learned, it's his primary defense against unwanted possession. This ritual can also be used on another, though if the other person /wants/ to be possessed, the sorcerer has to fight an uphill battle with the will of the target as well as the will of the invading spirit. *'Bransg Fafen Gah (level 2):' A common warding ritual against spirits, this raises the effective gauntlet in the warded area to make it more difficult for spirits to affect the material world. The sorcerer draws a circle around the area to be protected and adds defensive sigils to the design similar to those traced into the air during an invocation of Salman Ip Zimii. Fish regularly uses this before going to sleep (and why he prefers to sleep alone in his own bed). *'Gah Niis Monons Noqod (level varies):' By this ritual, the sorcerer calls to a particular spirit (or type of spirit), inviting it to enter and wear their flesh temporarily, generally for mutually beneficial reasons. The sorcerer paints or draws sigils on themselves representing the type of spirit desired (or the name of a specific spirit if known) and seats themselves in the middle of an unbroken circle before beginning the invocation. For ideal results, some form of material chiminage should also be included within the circle, such as a bowl of kindling for a fire elemental or a collection of shiny things for a crow spirit. If successful, the desired spirit will arrive in the nearby Penumbra and attempt to possess the sorcerer. Note that while this spell can be cast by a non-medium, it does not convey any special ability for possession upon the spirit, so invoking this spell by a non-medium is likely to cause annoyance; it's like inviting someone to dinner and then making them do all the work in the kitchen. Rude. *'Notes:' At Fish's current knowledge, his spells are effective with spirits up to lesser jagglings in power. (Though he can still use Salman Ip Zimii at greater difficulty to fight off a possession by a stronger spirit.) Note The language used in Fish's spells (along with many of the others that Nana Ruby knew, that were passed on to her from her grand-uncle) are all in a very bastardized form of Enochian, the language that mages of the Order of Hermes claim is the /first/ language, passed down to humanity from God. Any Order of Hermes character would recognize it, even in its current form. (And probably be annoyed as heck.) =Links= *Spotify Playlist *Hazmat's GarouMUSH logs tagged "fish" Category:HumansCategory:Past PCs